Chile Earthquake (2010)

Earthquakes are the expression of a living planet, the earth's way of re-inventing itself. But while this knowledge may be consoling in the abstract, it's not very useful in the face of a catastrophe such as the quake and tsunami in Japan. At these times, we need real consolation: food and water, emergency services and rescue ... and, David L. Ulin suggests, literature. Ulin is the author of "The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith."

For as long as we have experienced seismicity, we have written about it, going back to the Book of Acts. Below are nine works that channel both our terror and our awe.

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Earthquakes are the expression of a living planet, the earth's way of re-inventing itself. But while this knowledge may be consoling in the abstract, it's not very useful in the face of a catastrophe such as the quake and tsunami in Japan. At these times,...

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